Do adhd kids have issues w/eye contact? | ADHD Information

I agree with Longsally. My son has lousy eye contact sometimes. I know it is when he is distracted, not focusing on me, etc. It is such an ADHD things.

But because it also occurs with autistic children, it get's flagged. Because my son had speech and lousy eye contact at 2 1/2, Early Intervention all though he had autism. But Boston Children't Hospital said he was way too social.

My son is just ADHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHD.

My son has perfect vision and no problem with eye contact in general ..... until I talk to him. When I ask him calmly (or so I think) to look at me, he seems to deliberately glaze his eyes and make them glassy as if he is daydreaming. I have never seem him do this with anyone but me. I am struggling so badly not to see it as a huge sign on disrespect.]

I think we share the same son. It is as though in his head he is thinking here we go again. We are getting better eye contact with aging and meds but still a big issue. I am always saying look at me bubba when I am talking please. and he will for approx 2-3 sec then its off to lala land again. I have also noticed I get better eye contact in a nonstimulative environment, no tv playing in background stuff like that.

My ADHD son cannot make eye contact to save his soul.. I don't believe he does this on purpose. I believe it is just part of the ADHD. It IS though, very annoying.

My son had some tracking issues...however lately he seems to be focusing much better....he has been in OT for almost two years now and we are starting to see lots of progress ....the only time my son avoids eye contact is when something more interesting than me is going on ( example, the TV is on ).I had that same question. When you are talking with my son he does not like to make eye contact because he is so distractable. I usually have to turn his head with my hand so he'll look at me and I know that he is listening.....If not he is on to the next thing he sees or wants to talk about. Can be annoying at times but I don't blame him for it or see him as being outrightly disrespectful

my dd has poor eye contact at times. i do think it's an adhd thing. i see this happening more when she doesn't want to listen...she doen't want to learn something, or hear what she was doing that we didn't like, etc. i see it as a coping mechanism for her in some ways as well. her way of shutting down when she just doesn't want to hear us:) :) :)

since we started a stim, this has much improved. she still has poor eye contact with us at times, but probably more like a *normal 9 year old girl with her own opinions:) :) :)

shelley

My dd also doesn't do so well with eye contact. I think she is distracted and looking at things around us.[QUOTE=okiemom]

Please don't overreact to my comment.....but inability to make eye contact is one (of many) hallmark symptoms on the spectrum of autism disorders..... including high functioning Aspergers Syndrome. I of course am not trying to dx, but you might want to bring up the eye contact issue with your son's physician. I am not sure of the statistics of how often both ADHD and autism occur together, but as I recall, they can sometimes be co-morbid. There are lots of other symptoms that would have to be present before autism would even be considered. Take a look at this list and see if anything else other than the eye contact issue fits your child. http://www.aspergers.org/what_is_aspergers_syndrome.htm

Okiemom

[/QUOTE]

However, many symptoms of both disorders are the same so having one that would be considered to be an idicator of both ADHD and autism does not indicated co-morbidity. Avoiding eye contact can be a symptom of both disorders and does not necessarily mean you have both at all.

Thanks for all your thoughts and opinions on this guys! I don't think my son is doing it on purpose or avoiding eye contact. He just can't seem to do it. I have to keep reminding him to look me in the eyes when we are having a conversation that I want to be heard. He'll spread his eyes out real big and try, but then he's off not looking again 2-3 seconds later. Its kind of funny to watch him try...the faces he's making to try and look me in the eye. But not so funny when he's in trouble and we need to talk serious. Asperger's doesn't sound like him...but thanks for the criteria listing.Hi i am new here. My 6yo dd was diagnosed in Oct with ADHD and she have a awful time with eye contact. to help her at home we have staring contest. she has to sit in a chair and stare at someone for as long as she can. when she started it would only be for just a couple of seconds but she is gradually increasing. We also do tracking excersises like staring at a pencil eraser that gradully moves closer and farther away, and some other tracking excersises. I found this company called Learning Technics out of Utah that works with adhders ( i don't know if that is a real word) but they have several excerses that work on improving both physical and mental focus. I have found that this works really well for her.

Yes, his eyes have been checked. No physical abnormalities. To me, it seems to be the attention thing. We try to sit down quiet time every night, one on one. The main focus is positive...we go through his school work and praise him for the hard work he does (even if there are mistakes,etc...) We make a big to do about posting it all on the fridge every night, let him tell us about each paper and what he learned that day. Some days its great. Others he just can't do it even though its positive things we are saying. We then follow up with a fun activity "time in" we call it for all his hard work.

Yes, there are other behaviors that he exhibits that I believe may eventually lead us to adhd diagnosis, but I was wondering if this eye contact thing was part of it.

I doubt this is beneficial to your original post but I felt compelled to share.

I am not sure, but our son does it a lot. Last night I couldn't get him to focus on my eyes while I talk to him about things. We praise him for all the good work he does and he loves the cool stickers we give him. Today has not been a good day talking to his doctors. Its like they don't care. So I have to take xanax because I can only handle so much. My husband will call the psychiatrist office later. She is just tinkering with all this medicine and not a straight answer yet. Yes, not making eye contact can be one red flag (along, of course, with other symptoms....)When ds was young, he could not maintain eye contact for long. I noticed this before he was even a toddler. Wtih medication and improved focus, his eye contact improved with it.jfla239157.6204166667the lack of eye contact is an ADHD symptom. My dr told us that it was because my sons mind was going a thousand miles a minute and he could not focus in. Now, on meication, he is better

Okiemom

Our son is 5. Just diagnosed with Bipolar/ADHD. He has problems with eye to eye contact when we are talking to him. His eyes always wander off and his mind along with it. That is the ADHD. When he has his medicines he focuses on everything much better. This has and will be a long road because he started a new medicine Aderall and it made him hyper by 6 pm. He was tired during day then opposite later and aggitated.

My son is not diagnosed yet, but we have had issues since forever with eye contact. He is 5. Whenever we need to sit him down to talk about something, he simply cannot make eye contact. We'll tell him to look us in the eye, and he'll spread his eyes out real big, but still not really focusing us in the eye to hear what we have to say. Sometimes, he'll even start to lay on the ground and spin around. We have to hold him in a position on our laps or sit down on the ground with him to force him to look at us, and even then it is not for more than a few seconds. My daughter hasn't ever had problems with eye contact, but he just can't seem to do it. I recall a preschool teacher first mentioning this when he was 2 1/2 and it doesn't seem to have improved at all. Do you have similar issues? Is that typical with kids who have adhd?myjeffrey39156.5678935185

Can he focus on an object at a close distance? This is an older article, but it does talk about having problems with focusing the eyes at a close distance.

http://www.add-adhd.org/convergence_insufficiency.html

When my daughter was 3, we noticed that one of her eyes would focus and the other eye would not focus (lazy eye). Both of her eyes were affected and she ended up having surgery on both muscles in both eyes and corrective surgery when she was 5. Her eye problems were more genetic I believe, since her dad and cousins had similar eye surgeries for the same problem. If there is a problem with his eyes, its best to have them checked out while they are young. Hope this helps a little.

Is the lack of eye contact the only unusual thing about your son? How are his social skills, communication skills etc.?My son has eye contact problems. For the past two years I have been saying "I need your eyeballs" over and over and over. I had to inform him that he's suppose to look at people when he talks to them, and that the teachers want him to do this. This never occurred to him. I'd say it's 50% better now. When he does it without prompting he gets kudos, of course. I assume that you've gotten his eyes checked.Does he have trouble with eye contact at other times, like when you're playing together or during casual conversation at the dinner table? Many children have a hard time looking an adult in the eye when they think they are in trouble. You also may want to try having these conversations while his hands are occupied. Boys always seem to respond better if the talking is happening in conjuction with another activity, like building with Legos. And ADHD kids can listen better if they don't have to focus on keeping still and maintaining eye contact.